Sammy Batten: Defensive woes continue to haunt UNC in Fedora era

Saturday

Sep 9, 2017 at 5:36 PMSep 9, 2017 at 6:01 PM

CHAPEL HILL — Building a strong defense in this day and age of high-powered offenses is admittedly a difficult task. You can count on two hands the number of truly quality defensive units in college football today.

But since Larry Fedora became head coach at North Carolina in 2012, the team that once featured feared defenders such as Lawrence Taylor, Julius Peppers and Dre Bly has become fodder for just about any offense it opposes.

A quick look at the UNC record book reveals nine individual single-game offensive highs by opposing players have been set during Fedora's tenure, including most touchdown touchdowns responsible for (6 by ECU's Shane Carden in 2013 and Clemson DeShaun Watson in 2014) and most rushing yards (Baylor's Johnny Jefferson with 299 in 2015).

Then there are the opposing team marks for total yards (ECU with 789 in 2014), rushing yards (645 by Baylor in 2015), most rushing touchdowns (Baylor again with seven in 2015) and most touchdown passes (6 by Clemson in 2014) also produced under Fedora's watch.

The dubious defensive records continued to pile up Saturday for the Fedora-era Tar Heels as Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson sparked a 47-35 Atlantic Coast Conference victory at Kenan Stadium. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner punctured UNC's defense for the most yards ever by an opposing player with 525, and tied Carden and Watson's mark for touchdowns responsible for with three rushing and three passing.

“That guy, he's special now,'' Fedora said about Jackson after watching the Tar Heels drop to 0-2 this season. “Y'all saw him. He sat back there and threw the ball like he was in the NFL. He threw great passes.''

But as accurate as Jackson's passes were Saturday, a good portion of them were to receivers who somehow managed to elude UNC defenders to get wide open. Time after time, Jackson's passes landed in the hands of players who were five-to-10 yards from the nearest Tar Heel. The result was nine plays of 20 or more yards for the Cardinals, six of which came on passes.

It was a similar story in the season opener against California when the Bears consistently had receivers running free in the UNC secondary.

Even Fedora seemed befuddled by the situations occurring in his secondary.

“Defensively, I'm not sure … we weren't even close to receivers when their guys were catching the ball,'' he said. “I don't know if you can say that was because of Lamar Jackson. … When you have guys that are that open in those situations there's definitely a (mental) breakdown.''

UNC defenders Cayson Collins and Malik Carney both said Saturday lapses in communication led to many of Louisville's big plays. Carney elaborated, attributing the lapses to both the players on the field and “the sideline.''

The good news coming out of Saturday for UNC involved the offense, which was supposed to be this team's weak point. Quarterbacks Chazz Surratt and Brandon Harris both threw the ball well and directed the offense to scoring opportunities. Receivers got down field and made plays, especially senior Austin Proehl, who had eight catches for 120 yards.

Sophomore Anthony Ratliff-Williams also established himself as a dangerous kick returner, taking one back 94 yards for a touchdown and finishing with a school-record 199 yards overall on five returns.

Also impressive was the fact UNC actually led the nation's No. 17-ranked team deep into the third quarter before Louisville finally took control in the final period behind Jackson's exploits. If the Tar Heels can put 35 points on the board each game this season, they can still win a lot of games.

But that can only happen if the defense gets better fast. So far, that kind of improvement hasn't occurred under Fedora, who I believe is a quality coach. And I think he's good for North Carolina football.

At some point, however, defense must be a priority for his program to achieve consistent success.

Staff writer Sammy Batten can be reached at sbatten@fayobserver.com or 486-3534.